The feasibility of renaming Cambridge Park Place

In response to Council Order O-5, dated May 9, 2016, regarding changing the name of Cambridge Park Place, I have consulted with the Historical Commission, Emergency Communications, Fire Department and Traffic, Parking, and Transportation. Changing the street name is feasible, with minimal inconveniences, as there are no buildings assigned a Cambridge Park Place address.

Under Cambridge Regulation, 12.04, Cambridge City Council is the responsible authority for altering street names. 12.04.010 - Street names affirmed—Changes and new designations The several streets in the City shall continue to be called by the names heretofore given to them, until such names are altered by the City Council. The City Council, subject to any provisions of law relative thereto, shall give names to all streets hereafter laid out and may change the name of a street at any time, except that no street shall be given the designation of any existing street, and no street shall be accepted so long as the name thereof is the same as that of any existing street.

In regards to an appropriate name for the street, Steel Place would provide a link to the history of steel production in the area. From the late 1940s through the 1970s this vicinity was home to as many as five steel warehouses and fabricators, including Bethlehem Steel and the West End Iron Works; many of the frames for Boston’s postwar buildings were fabricated there. The attached photo shows one such facility that directly abutted the present Cambridge Park Place.

In order to formally change the name, City Council would need to pass a Council Order ordering that Cambridge Park Place be renamed to the desired new name.